Opiate Addiction; Climate Departure; Mystery at Sea

There was an internal debate about including a link about a local meteorologist and cat vomit. We passed. If you'd like to see that, you can search it out on your own because we've already said too much. Speaking of cat vomit, CNN informs us that we are in Day Ten of the federal government shutdown, and the debt ceiling deadline is 156 hours away as this is written. That means you have time to watch all of "Battlestar Galactica," "Breaking Bad," and the first seven seasons of "Seinfeld" before the deadline. Hop to it. This is The Wheelhouse Digest for October 10, 2013 -- the day after hump day.

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Credit Doug Wheller / Flickr Creative Commons

HEARING ON OPIATE PRESCRIPTION RATE AMONG VETERANSIncreasing prescriptions are leading to increasing addictions.

WNPR News recently aired a documentary special, "Reveal," about the shocking trend of increasing opiate prescriptions at VA hospitals across the country. The House Veterans Affairs Committee has a hearing underway examining the trend and how it has impacted veterans and their families. Keep up with the proceedings today at our live blog, via CIR, which includes commentary and live video streaming.

A city's climate departure is, "when the average temperature of its coolest year from then on is projected to be warmer than the average temperature of its hottest year between 1960 and 2005." A new report from Max Fisher at The Washington Post, says New York will hit that mark in 2047. Not surprisingly, climate change deniers are adding their voice to the comments section. Meanwhile, The Los Angeles Times says it will not publish letters to the editor from climate change deniers. Paul Thornton wrote, "I do my best to keep errors of fact off the letters page." But he's not keeping them off the comments section of this post.

OCEAN MYSTERY: HOUSE BOAT? OFFICE BOAT? ALIENS?A barge carrying a four-story building left some New Londoners scratching their heads.

We know where it's going. We know where it came from. We know who is furnishing it. But WHAT IS IT? Yesterday, a barge carried a four-story building down the Thames River in New London. It will arrive in Portland, Maine today, and the structure is being outfit by The Cianbro Cos. for an undisclosed client. Cianbro's website says it is "the East Coast's largest civil and heavy industrial construction firm," and has an office in Bloomfield. Will it house aliens? Probably not, but for now we can dream.